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ABSTRACT
Advertisement is the process of communicating the most persuasive selling message possible, to the right
potential consumer of products or services at the right time and place, at least possible cost. Advertisement acts as a
communicating bridge between producer and consumer. With industrialization and expansion of market access, importance
of advertising is steadily on the increase in modern society. Advertising, using media as its vehicle, is a pervasive,
powerful force shaping attitudes and behavior in today's world. At times it goes beyond the traditional role of fair and
truthful information and portraits obscene, undesirable and unethical scenes giving a detrimental result especially on the
young population of the society. In our day to day lives, we always face situations were we have to take decisions, and
decide what is right and wrong. We are always faced with the debate of what is moral or immoral, ethical or unethical and
according to the perception of each individual, the right decision from their point of view is made. Over the years
advertising and marketing communication messages have created a lot of debatable ethical issues, due to the public belief,
that advertisements nowadays deeply affect the way people perceive themselves and the world surrounding them, including
crucial actions and behaviors.
The article will provide a theoretical framework investigating about various contemporary types of unethical
advertisements like advertisements with obscenity and sexual overtone, endorsed by children, surrogate advertising,
subliminal advertisements, false and misleading advertisements etc. The ethical aspect of Indian advertisement is
extremely important for restoration of our Indian culture, norms, ethics and heritage. This article also talks about statutory
prohibition and regulations of such unethical advertisements and establishment of self regulatory body like ASCI to tackle
the problem. But the most important problem lies in improper implementation of the laws.
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In order to have a better understanding of the situation, we need to further explore the world of advertisements,
the appeals used, the targeted decision making components and the effects of Ads on the targeted consumer as a whole.
The are two main components advertisers aim to effect; the affective component, where affective message strategies are
applied by invoking feelings and trying to match them with the product or service offered in an effort to increase the
likeability of the product, and also the cognitive components, where the Ad focuses on the attributes and benefits of the
product, encouraging the consumer to buy it (Clow & Baack, 2007). Such components are affected by the leverage points
in an Ad; these are the features in the Ad that helps the consumer transfer the advertised message into personal value
(Clow & Baack, 2007).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Petroshius (1986) found that female students had a more favorable attitude towards the institution of advertising
while male students had a more favorable attitude toward the ethics of advertising. Larkin (1977) administered 26
Likert-type statements to 80 college students to measure their attitude toward advertising along four different dimensions:
economic effects of advertising, social effects of advertising, ethics of advertising and regulation of advertising.
Nageshwara Rao.S.B. (1987) in his study on The code of ethics in advertising, suggested that the advertising should
make the life of the consumer easier, more comfortable and pleasant. Thus, he emphasizes on ethics and honesty in
advertising. Samudhra Raja Kumar. C. et al (2000) has conducted a study on consumers attitude towards
advertisements and concluded that the advertisers must concentrate more on the information and social aspects in any
advertising and must avoid advertising for harmful products and exploitation of women. The government should also play
a key role in framing regulations regarding advertisements relating to exploitation of women. Advertisers should fulfill
their obligations towards the society. To further validate his findings Subhash Chanter and Rishi Raj (2003) found that
unethical advertisements irrespective of the positive perceptions, unethical advertisements create a negative impact on the
society. Also, majority of the people perceive the phenomena of unethical advertising as negative for the advertised
product. Thus, the review on these past studies has revealed the importance of ethical codes of conduct in advertising
which dictates the success of any advertisement. Hence, the present study focuses on the level of ethics followed and
presents an extensive comparison of print and electronic media.
In past research, ethical concerns have been also been raised on the use of sexual appeals in advertising. In a study
conducted by Pollay in 1986, it was found that the effects of excessive use of sexual appeals in ads, manifested themselves
in the form of sexual preoccupation and rise in crime against women, both of which were damaging to morality and
society. Likewise, in a study conducted by Henthrone and LaTour in 1994, it was pointed out that undesirable
consequences and reactions may result from the use of strong overt sexual appeals in advertising. It was suggested that
advertisers needed to recognize the moral/ethical complexity involved in the use of sexual appeals and incorporate that
understanding within their strategic thought. Stereotypes in advertising is yet another reason for which ads have been
heavily criticized. In a study conducted in 2000 by Coltrane and Messineo, stereotypes of race and gender in advertising
were studied. It was found that characters in television commercials (hence forth TVCs) enjoyed more prominence if they
were white or men. Five years later, Chatterji (2005) pointed out that extreme stereotypes of gender were presented in ads,
which perpetuated a lifestyle oppressive to women. A study with a similar conclusion was conducted by Schaffter (2006),
which revealed that representation of women in ads was not just stereotypical, but unethical and offensive too, worked to
the deterrent of women and perpetuated gender hierarchy. Building on the same, past research has also been concerned
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with the cognitive, behavioral and attitudinal consequences of gender stereotypical advertising. Richins (1991) pointed out
that comparison with the idealized images in advertising raised comparison standards for attractiveness in case of young
women and lowered their satisfaction with their own attractiveness. In a similar study conducted by Fay and Price (1994),
it was found that it was normal for adolescent girls and young women to compare their bodies with media images and to a
greater extent than non-sufferers, anorexics were influenced and their self image diminished by advertising images. Lavine
et al. (1999) showed by way of a study that TV ads that portray women as sex objects led to increased body dissatisfaction
in women. For many women, such ads were found to lead to a loss of confidence/self-respect (Pollay, 1986).
In a recent study conducted by Drum Wright and Murphy (2009), the current state of advertising ethics was
studied and it was found that deceptive advertising was openly allowed. Evidence is also available on the strong reluctance
on the part of the ad agencies to institute policies that proscribe unethical conduct (Pratt and James, 1994).It is thus time for
the advertising industry to embrace its responsibilities and develop ethical campaigns to prevent the waning of community
values and check the other harmful effects of advertising.
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understating of this appeal, western union for instance used this technique to convey the concepts of trust and reliability.
MasterCard used this approach for one of its most successful Ads with the slogan there are some things money cant buy,
for everything else there is MasterCard. As mentioned earlier, emotional advertisements are very popular and can be used
creatively for almost anything. For that reason there is a great ethical debate about this appeal, since it can sometime
exploit the audiences emotions, leading to the purchase of the product that they might have not needed or a product that
would eventually harm them. (Clow&Baack, 2007).
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In the United Kingdom advertising of tobacco on television, billboards or at sporting events is banned. Similarly
alcohol advertisers in the United Kingdom are not allowed to discuss in a campaign the relative benefits of drinking, in
most instances therefore choosing to focus around the brand image and associative benefits instead of those aligned with
consumption. There are many regulations throughout the rest of Europe as well. In many non-Western countries, a widevariety of linguistic and non-linguistic strategies are used to mock and undermine regulations.
It is a fact that advertising agencies tend to go overboard, when it comes to selling a product. Double meaning
words, sexuality, violence, misleading, false and offensive advertising videos are now a part of our life.
To ensure the truthfulness and honesty of representations and claims made by advertisements and to safeguard
against misleading advertising.
To ensure that advertisements are not offensive to generally accepted standards of public decency.
To safeguard against indiscriminate use of advertising for promotion of products which are regarded as hazardous
to society or to individuals to a degree or of a type which is unacceptable to society in large.
To ensure that advertisements observe fairness in competition so that consumers need to be informed on choices
in the market place and the canons of generally accepted competitive behavior in business are both served.
Under the ASCI Code, complaints against the advertisements can be made by any person who considers them to
be false, misleading, offensive, or unfair. The complaints are evaluated by an independent Consumer Complaints Council
(CCC). CCC decides on complaints from the general public including government officials, consumer groups, etc.,
complaints from one advertiser against another and even suo moto complaints from the member of the ASCI Board, CCC,
or the Secretariat. The CCC usually decides upon the complaints within a period of 4 to 6 weeks once the party concerned
is afforded an opportunity of presenting its case.
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Section 292 and 293 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 prohibit the dissemination of any obscene matter. The Indian
Post Office Act, 1898, imposes a similar prohibition on the transmission of obscene matter through post. The
Customs Act, 1962 allows the detention and seizure of any obscene matter sought be imported into the country.
The Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956, prohibits the dissemination of publications deemed to be
harmful to persons under the age of twenty years.
The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 forbids the depiction of women in an indecent or
derogatory manner in the mass media.
The Children Act, 1960 prohibits the discourse of the name and address and other particulars of any child involved
in certain proceedings
The Emblems and Names (prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950, forbids the use by any private party of certain
names, emblems etc.
The Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act, 1971, forbids the bringing into contempt of the National
Flag or the Constitution of India in any manner.
The Indian Penal Code, 1860, prohibits the publication of matters connected unauthorized lotteries, while the
Indian Post Office Act, 1898 imposes a similar prohibition on the transmission by the post of such matter. The
Indian Penal Code, 1860, also prohibits the publication of appeals using National symbols for furthering the
prospects of any candidate at an election.
The Drugs and Magic Remedies (objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954, prohibits advertisements for products
and services claiming to cure certain medical conditions.
The Prize Competitions Act, 1955, prohibits the publication of matter with unauthorized price competitions, while
the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, and imposes a similar prohibition in respect
of chits and money circulation schemes.
The provisions of the law imposing limitations on message/content in the print media play a crucial role towards
advertising. In fact, most of the provisions governing the print media are applicable to advertising as well, with such
modifications as the context may require. The advertising industry has also evolved a Code of Ethics to govern the
profession, keeping in view the culture and ethos of Indian Society.
Incite people towards criminal activity, provocative, cause disorder and/or violence in the country.
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Ridicule the father of the nation, the national emblem, part of Constitution or the image of a national leader or a
state dignitary.
Depict women in a deprecating manner. Females should not be portrayed in a manner that is obscene, exploitative
or vulgar.
CONCLUSIONS
The ethical aspect of Indian advertisement is enormously important for refurbishment of our Indian culture and
tradition. Indian culture is getting diluted by the western culture which influences our country to a great extent.
As Zinkhan, Bisesi and Saxton (1989) have pointed out, the influence and impact of moral idealism change overtime.
It is therefore prudent to continually re-evaluate the assumptions on which strategic decisions are based. Advertisers
considering the use of sexual appeals need to examine all potential social issues at stake. Advertising executives should
consider not only the unintended consequences of using such appeals, but also the perceived morality of doing so
(Gould 1994).
REFERENCES
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2.
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